It is well known in the art that organosilicon compounds containing an amino group are useful as silane coupling agents, surface treating agents, textile treating agents, adhesives, paint additives and the like. Specifically, when an inorganic material such as glass fiber, metal or oxide filler is added to a polymer material for the purpose of improving mechanical properties and heat resistance, the adhesion between the polymer material and the inorganic material and the dispersion of the inorganic material in the polymer material are improved using the amino-containing organosilicon compound. The effect of adding the inorganic material is enhanced beyond expectation.
As is also known in the art, silane coupling agents such as the above organosilicon compounds generate a considerable amount of alcohol on use, typically during mixing step. In conjunction with environmental issues associated with global warming and health problems, the recent challenge is a reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOC). Efforts have been made to achieve a saving of VOC by reducing the amount of alcohol generated from silane coupling agents. For example, the amount of alcohol generated on use is reduced by partly replacing an alkoxy group of an alkoxysilane by a nonvolatile long-chain alkyl polyether group as described in JP-A 2006-249069 or by subjecting an alkoxysilane to partial hydrolytic condensation to form a siloxane oligomer having some alkoxy groups left intact as described in JP 2962934 and JP-A 2002-226490.
These organosilicon compounds intended to reduce alcohol generation, that is, silanes having a nonvolatile group replaced or oligomers obtained by forming an intermolecular siloxane bond and having a relatively high molecular weight are difficult to purify by distillation. Few target compounds are of high purity. Since the target compound is available as a mixture, the physical properties are inconsistent. To overcome these drawbacks, JP 5359585 discloses an amino-containing organosilicon compound which can be readily purified and generates a less amount of alcohol during use.